Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Tanzanian Air Force takes delivery of 14 new J-7G fighter jets

J-7G Fighter Jet.

The Tanzanian
People's Defence Force (TPDF) has swapped 12 old Chinese-made J-7 fighter
aircraft with 14 new J-7Gs, as the country forges ahead with the modernisation
of its aerial defence capabilities.

IHSJanes (Jane´s Defence Weekly) reports that the new fighter aircraft fleet includes 12 single-seat
Chengdu J-7G jets (designated F-7TN in Tanzanian Air Force service) and two
dual seat J-7Ns (designated FT-7TN in Tanzania) which were ordered in 2009 and
delivered in 2011.

The
fighters, which are now deployed at TPDF air bases in Mwanza and the capital
Dar es Salaam, are armed with the Type 30-1 30 mm cannon and are equipped with
five hardpoints for rockets, missiles and bombs. An upgraded Chinese copy of
the MiG-21, the J-7G can reach a maximum speed of 2 200 km per hour and has a
radius of 850 kilometres.

The
J-7G features a Chinese-made KLJ-6E radar, which has replaced the French-made
Selex Galileo Grifo 7 radar featured on earlier models of the J-7 such as those
which were exported to Namibia and Nigeria in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

The
Tanzanian Air Force has few combat aircraft, with only six K-8 jet trainers
being the only other armed fixed wing aircraft in its fleet.

Last
year, the Tanzania Ministry of Defence said the government will soon spend more
on the procurement of defence equipment for the army and the air force as
country strengthens its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
capabilities in the face of security threats such as maritime piracy and
trans-national and home-grown terrorism.

The
government is also seeking better air and naval defence capabilities to defend
newly-found offshore hydrocarbon resources and secure its territorial waters
against economic crimes such as illegal fishing. Last year, Tanzania mobilised
its defence forces and threatened to go to war with neighbouring Malawi in a
feud over exploratory drilling works which were taking place in an oil-rich
maritime territory in Lake Nyasa which borders the two countries.

Malawi
insisted that the drilling was happening on its side of the marine boundary
while Tanzania asserted that the oil-fields fall within its maritime domain.
Mediation efforts on the boundary dispute are still in progress.